Descending Tips -by Rob Crowe 2 times Olympian

The thing with high speed skills at anything, the art is usually best ‘learned’ at lower speeds first, and then transferred to high-speed situations. However, while it’s a given that highly skilled riders can surely teach us cool maneuvers, their actions are not always functional or even observable at lower speeds (i.e. these tips work best when you’re going fast). That is, you may have to progress to somewhat upper-level descending speeds (over 50kph) to see some of the following tips REALLY working for you properly.

1. Get Low on the Bike

Getting aero is only part of the exercise of keeping a high-speed up on descents; it’s more about getting a low centre of gravity > the lower you can get, the better stabilised the rider-bike system is for getting better traction & control

2. Set Visual Gaze Far Ahead

You will GO to where you FOCUS your view-point; look much farther ahead than the wheel, rider or bend in the road immediately in front of you. It’s a common thing that first-time riders in the bigger packs will head straight into a crash scene they are witnessing from way off in the other side of the group!!
When descending, set your gaze on the point where you wish to end up – AFTER the bend. Peripheral vision can take care guiding you around gravel patches or other riders coming up into the cornering line. Believe me, you don’t want to learn how true this is when you’re going 80kph for the first time, so, pretty please – focus past the bend!

3. Lean the Bike, NOT Your Body

The traction of your tires on the road works best when the heaviest part of the rider-bike system is pressing vertically down upon the tire contact points with the roadway. Put more practically, it’s best if you lean the bike out from under you and you stay above the tire contact points with the road – for maximum control. For motorbikes, this does not apply (because the bike is the heavier object) as much as when applied for a bicyclist (where the rider is the heavier object).

4. Outside Leg Takes the Weight

Riders lose most momentum and time through the corners through lack of rigidity, like when flexing in a bike-frame washes off your precious power as you push it through the frame to the wheels. By keeping the outside leg straight and with most of the body-weight concentrated downwards through the outside pedal, not only do you get more rigidity during the cornering moment, but you can cut tighter lines & keep the bike on the shortest course through the corners more easily.

5. Don’t Sit On The Seat!

For various reasons, it’s a good habit to sit slightly off the seat > off to the side, off to the front, off to the back – whatever gets your weight centered over the wheels – but just in a way that essentially allows the bike to bounce around under your thighs if you hit bumps, cat-eyes or bitumen ripples, rather than bouncing you and your visuals around up above. This natural suspension technique might come & go as you descend different sections of road, but when its needed, it’s a critical safety & control factor to ensure you go more cleanly without having to brake through rougher surfaces.

6. Breathe Out Through the Apex

There is a concentration and muscular-contraction benefit as you exhale, so, while you apply yourself to the most important part of a fast descent (the apex of corners) and try to stay low, lean the bike, sit off to the side of the seat, change line, focus ahead, get ready to keep pedaling, push down on your outside leg and leave the brakes alone – you should also breathe out!

7. Keep the Motor Running

Keep pedaling as the descent progresses; the idea is to stay fluid with movement on the bike, use higher cadences to keep your HR from plummeting – good descending is an exercise as well as some respite; stay warm.

8. Smoothen Out Your Line

Draw a line on an aerial map of the descent course that has the shortest route & least bend in the line of your curves – THIS is the line to take on the road-lane that you have for the descent. Simple.

9. Maintain A Safety Cushion

Things happen much faster at high speed; it’s physics 101. If you go faster, then changes come up quicker on the road (potholes, car doors, slower riders), but your brain still has the same reaction time it had at lower speeds. The most critical thing to adjust as you get quicker, is how much time you allow for decision-making and adjustments to your position on the road. Look further ahead, brake sooner, sit further back from others, pass other objects with more of a berth. For this reason, it’s not worth the risk to have a look back at the gap you’ve got to others; but more time is wasted, more momentum is lost, and the time it takes for you to head-check back may be the same time you just had to avoid a new situation arriving…

10. Double-Braking Habits Work Best

Use more rear? Use more front? Stay off the brakes!?! None of these work too well when you really need to pull up properly. There are 2 brakes partly because there are 2 wheels, but also because you need to spread the pressure of controlling your mass at high speed over as much surface area as possible. It’s good to brake earlier into corners an less during the turn itself as the bike goes through leaning angles, but when it comes to actually washing off some speed because you’re going too fast, use all brake levers possible together!!

Important Note…

Ironically, after reading these TOP 10 RIDEWISER TIPS listed, perhaps the most important tip of all will not be found in any tips list on HOW TO DO IT, but is uncanny in the way it often remedies the skill barriers for many riders. That is, don’t think about these tips; feel them. Like surfing a wave, or catching your kite in a breeze, descending & cornering at high speed requires more ‘sensing’ and experiencing the actual situation than thinking it into perfection. Just go and try it, & you’ll ‘feel’ exactly what I mean.

My Dream Bike

Group Dynamics in Cycling

Group Dynamics In Cycling
by Tom “Tommy P” Pietkiewicz

I am a registered Organisational Psychologist and a sometimes competitive cyclist. When I am riding well I can almost keep up with CT on a training ride…almost. My work involves working with business leaders on various aspects of people in their companies. This includes: Leadership, Development, Effectiveness, Teamwork, Productivity, Recruitment, Succession, Takeovers / Mergers and so on. What is perhaps not immediately clear is how many parallels there are between organisations and cycling. If you can imagine a bunch of riders to be like an organisation made up of people with individual motivations, traits and skills but also common goals and a need to work together, we can start applying many learning’s from the business world.
I have compiled a number of facts and research topics on group dynamics and applied the findings to cycling. This may assist you in understanding group processes for your personal advantage of course.

1. Groups form naturally
Grouping is built into our nature. Studies have found that even the slightest set of common circumstances will begin the formation of a group. If you start riding with a group at a certain time, or from a certain place regularly the process will begin. You will start building your identity based on the group norms and will look for common ground with members. You will actually begin to favour people that you associate with your groups.

2. Joining Groups
Groups will build further identity by having some kind of initiation requirements. You might need to get over a hill at a certain rate or be able to roll turns at a certain pace to become a member. Some groups will have team clothing or other specific requirements. Groups want to test you but also expect you to value your membership. Don’t be a “floozy” and try to be a member of every group or you will not blend with any.

3. Conforming
Once in a group we start to search for group norms and apply our behaviour accordingly. This is a very powerful process and many people will often act against their own judgment in order to preserve group norms. Immediately we can think of the big bunch rides. Think of the various training rides that you do. Each have a certain ‘feel’ or ‘character’ that becomes established with newcomers simply playing along based on what they see. If anyone rides the Thursday night Tour de Burbs in Melbourne you will notice a number of traditions. Riding at a high pace through some sections, slow through others. Racing for certain climbs, regrouping. No one really reinforces these, they have developed and now persist even if membership changes over years. A good example to mention is some of the lawlessness that develops on bunch rides. People will run red lights if they think this is acceptable in the group. CT and others have made efforts to change these norms. If enough core and influential members change the group behaviour the rest will simply conform. Many respected riders now choose to avoid some of these rides but a better option is to attend and show leadership.

4. Don’t fit: get out.
Group norms are very powerful. If your group is about Euro style and you wear the wrong length/colour socks, don’t match jersey to knicks or don’t clean your bike, you will soon know about it. If your group is a bunch of hard-men, skipping a few turns and slacking off on training rides will soon result in you not being invited on rides. Alternatively, often attacking a group who is more about just enjoying the riding will have you riding all alone also.
Additionally every group has a member who does not quite fit in. The group will keep this person in but ridicule and point out the various issues. This person is called a Scapegoat and almost every group has one. They play an important role as the group unites and reinforces their values by picking on the Scapegoat. The Scapegoat also is likely to enjoy a level of notoriety. O2’s CJ is a good example. With his wrong kit or terrible socks. All criticisms are out the window, though, when he puts the group in the gutter on an epic suffer-fest.

5. Leadership
A leader plays a very important role in a group. It is impossible to simply just assume this role. Most leaders emerge slowly and subtly. Studies have shown that a successful leader is one that fitted the group so well that they have gained trust and acceptance and can then start suggesting new ideas, activities. I always think of Mario Cipollini who was the guardian and leader of the bunch and could set the tempo for a stage, organise a chase or just bring others into line. He most likely exhibited all the traits that many others aspired to and wanted to embody and probably saw as the reasons they become professional cyclists. He was stylish, successful and embodied the whole Euro-pro lifestyle. Think of who this is in your group, it is likely a person who does a lot to keep the group going. Sends emails, organises rides, suggests races you can all try etc. You can’t just enter a group and make a lot of noise. No one will follow.

6. Performance
Riding with others can make us more competitive. We want to beat our friends. We want to get to the top of a climb near the front of our group. At the same time, comfort in a group can make us more likely to “slack off”. A famous study found that in a tug of war, each person in a team of 8 put in only half as much effort as when on their own. Now we have all seen this on the bike. People not pulling turns, expecting others to chase. In fact, the bigger the group and tasks are additive rather than individual, the more likely members will “slack off” to a very large degree. When you are in a break of 4, for example, you are more likely to work your guts out. This is why many relatively small breaks can get away in amateur cycling. I guess the Pro guys would not be Pro for too long if they “slacked off”. No doubt this is why many Pro teams use power meters in races to have effort clearly visible and manageable.

7. Competition
Once groups form an identity we start thinking of “them-vs-us”. This can become quite extreme. This is easily observable on in any local club’s weekly World Criterium Championships. You will notice an explosion in the number of teams in matching outfits. These guys are not professionals but enjoy the increased competition and comradery that group dynamics can provide. Studies have found that group members not only display far more competiveness when part of a group but also begin to distrust and dislike the other groups. Even when you know individual members of other groups you are likely to form a slight (or strong) negative opinion of the group as a whole. I guess this makes racing a whole lot more fun.

Hydration

Drinking enough fluid before, during and after both training and racing is essential. As little as 1.7% dehydration may impair energy levels, concentration and performance.

Dehydration can lead to:

• Impaired concentration and co-ordination
• Increased perception of effort
• Increased body temperature and heart rate
• Impaired performance
• Nausea, vomiting and other stomach upsets
• Severe dehydration may result in collapse, heat stress and hospitalisation.

General Hydration Guidelines

Priority 1 Adequate fluid volume

• Start drinking first thing in the morning and consistently throughout they day.
• Always carry drink bottle, off and on the bike.
• Individual fluid requirements will vary, based on estimated losses.
• Urine colour is an excellent indicator of hydration levels. Urine that is clear or very pale yellow indicates a good level of hydration (note that vitamin/mineral supplements often cause urine to be bright yellow in colour).

Priority 2 Adequate carbohydrate and electrolytes

• Water should generally be the main fluid consumed throughout the day.
• Other fluids also contribute to daily intake eg. sports drink, milk, juice, cordial.
• Sports drinks are particularly important for prolonged exercise (> 1 hour) and for exercise in the heat where fluid losses are high. Sports drinks are formulated to maximise fluid absorption and provide a source of carbohydrate and electrolytes.
  
• Sports drink is important before, during and after training/races to provide fuel and electrolytes.
• Athletes identified as salty sweaters will also require higher intake of fluids containing sodium.
• Milk and milk-based drinks can be an excellent recovery fluid, providing carbohydrate, sodium and protein.

Priority 3 Appropriate timing of intake

• Fluid intake spaced throughout the day
• Increased intake during and after training/competition

Tips for Staying Hydrated

Pre-Training/Competition

• If you turn up dehydrated on the start line then you are giving the rest of the field a head start from the beginning. Drink plenty of fluid the night before, and in the hours leading up to a training session or competition.
• Have a drink with all meals and snacks and keep a bottle with you for all the times in between. HOWEVER, be careful not to over consume excessive amounts of plain water, as there is a small risk of over-hydrating.
• Drink 400-600ml 10-20 mins before your event.

During Training/Competition

• Begin drinking early and continue to drink small amounts regularly.
• Develop a plan for drinking based on your estimated individual sweat losses (determined by measuring fluid losses and intake during exercise). In general, aim to consume 80% of estimated losses during exercise.
• It is better to adopt a pattern of drinking small volumes regularly, rather than trying to tolerate large volumes at once. A rough guide is to aim for 600-1000ml of water or sports drink per hour of exercise, although the volume will vary between individuals and climates.
• For road races where there are significant hill sections, many cyclists try to reduce any extra weight on the bike and this often results in a choice to carry less fluid. In these situations, a specific hydration plan should be developed to ensure the balance is achieved between optimal weight and adequate hydration for performance.

After Training/Competition

• It is essential to replace the fluid that you have lost. Aim to drink 150% of the measured fluid loss in the next few hours following exercise to account for ongoing sweat and urine losses. For example, if you lost 1000mL, you will need to drink 1500mL to fully re-hydrate.
• When fluid losses are high and/or rapid re-hydration is needed, sodium replacement may be required. Sodium helps you to re-hydrate by promoting fluid absorption and aiding in fluid retention. Sports drinks and oral re-hydration solutions (eg. Gastrolyte) can help to replace sodium after exercise.
• It can be useful to try some salty carbohydrate snacks for glycogen recovery rather than all sweet options. For example: vegemite sandwiches/rolls, soups, noodle stir-fries with soy sauce, rice crackers or pretzels. Don't over-do it though, speak to a VIS Sports Dietitian to determine optimal sodium intake for you.

* Every athlete is different - understand your individual fluid and nutrition needs and the steps required to achieve optimal hydration and performance. A Sports Dietitian can help you work out the best nutrition and hydration strategies for your specific individual needs.

Quick Tips

• After riding through debris use your bidon to rub your wheels clean instead of using your hands. This will save wear on your gloves and avoid getting slivers getting caught in your fingers.

• If you don’t have a tyre lever to fix a puncture try using the quick release part of the skewer.

• Instead of trying to wipe your sunglasses clean from sweat with your jersey, just pour water over them and give them a shake. You won’t risk scratching them and they’ll dry without spots or smears.

• When riding beside someone and you need to look backwards put your arm on the shoulder of rider next to you. This will give you a sense of reference to keep riding straight ahead.

• Tip for cleaning jockey wheels: Let the chain pull a wipe into the derailleur and when gets stuck there it’ll clean as you turn the chain. Then just push the derailleur until it is straight and pull the wipe out.

• Open your energy bars before you start your ride or race. This way you won’t need to fiddle with them while you’re riding and it’ll make you eat more frequently.

• Use babywipes to clean your bike, shoes, chain….nearly everything. I don’t know what they put in these but there’s no better thing on earth to keep your gear clean.

Carbo Loading

'Carbohydrate loading' is probably one of the most misunderstood terms in sports nutrition. People commonly think anyone involved in sport needs to 'carb up' and the way to do this is to eat 'flat out' in the days leading up to an event. Read on to get the facts on carbohydrate loading.

What is carbohydrate loading?

Carbohydrate loading is a strategy involving changes to training and nutrition that can maximise muscle glycogen (carbohydrate) stores prior to endurance competition.

The technique was originally developed in the late 1960's and typically involved a 3-4 day 'depletion phase' involving 3-4 days of hard training plus a low carbohydrate diet. This depletion phase was thought to be necessary to stimulate the enzyme glycogen synthase. This was then followed immediately by a 3-4 day 'loading phase' involving rest combined with a high carbohydrate diet. The combination of the two phases was shown to boost muscle carbohydrate stores beyond their usual resting levels.

Ongoing research has allowed the method to be refined so that modern day carbohydrate loading is now more manageable for athletes. The depletion phase was demonstrated to be no longer necessary, which is a bonus for athletes as this phase was very difficult. Australian marathon runner, Steve Moneghetti has described the depletion phase as making him feel like "death warmed up". Today, 1-4 days of exercise taper while following a high carbohydrate diet (7-12g/kg body weight) is sufficient to elevate muscle glycogen levels.

Does carbohydrate loading improve performance?

Muscle glycogen levels are normally in the range of 100-120 mmol/kg ww (wet weight). Carbohydrate loading enables muscle glycogen levels to be increased to around 150-200 mmol/kg ww. This extra supply of carbohydrate has been demonstrated to improve endurance exercise by allowing athletes to exercise at their optimal pace for a longer time. It is estimated that carbohydrate loading can improve performance over a set distance by 2-3%.

Who should carbohydrate load?

Anyone exercising continuously at a moderate to high intensity for 90 minutes or longer is likely to benefit from carbohydrate loading. Typically, sports such as cycling, marathon running, longer distance triathlon, cross-country skiing and endurance swimming benefit from carbohydrate loading. Shorter-term exercise is unlikely to benefit as the body's usual carbohydrate stores are adequate. Carbohydrate loading is generally not practical to achieve in team sports where games are played every 3-4 days. Although it might be argued that players in football and AFL have heavy demands on their muscle fuel stores, it may not be possible to achieve a full carbohydrate loading protocol within the weekly schedule of training and games.

What does a high carbohydrate diet look like?

The following diet is suitable for a 70kg athlete aiming to carbohydrate load:

Breakfast	3 cups of low-fibre breakfast cereal with 11/2 cups of reduced fat milk 1 medium banana 250ml orange juice
Snack	toasted muffin with honey 500ml sports drink
Lunch	2 sandwiches (4 slices of bread) with filling as desired 200g tub of low-fat fruit yoghurt 375ml can of soft drink
Snack	banana smoothie made with low-fat milk, banana and honey cereal bar
Dinner	1 cup of pasta sauce with 2 cups of cooked pasta 3 slices of garlic bread 2 glasses of cordial
Late Snack	toasted muffin and jam 500ml sports drink

This sample plan provides ~ 14,800 kJ, 630 g carbohydrate, 125 g protein and 60 g fat.

Are there any special considerations for females?

Most studies of glycogen storage have been conducted on male athletes. However, some studies suggest that females may be less responsive to carbohydrate loading, especially during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. This appears to be, at least partly, because they have difficulty consuming the larger amounts of carbohydrate required for a complete CHO load. Further research needs to be conducted specifically on females.

What are the common mistakes made when carbohydrate loading?

Research indicates that many athletes who attempt to carbohydrate load, fail to achieve their goal. Common mistakes include:

• Carbohydrate loading requires an exercise taper. Athletes can find it difficult to back off training for 1-4 days before competition. Failing to rest will compromise carbohydrate loading.
• Many athletes fail to eat enough carbohydrate. It seems athletes don't have a good understanding of the amount of food required to carbohydrate load. Working with a sports dietitian or using a carbohydrate counter can be useful.
• In order to consume the necessary amount of carbohydrate, it is necessary to cut back on fibre and make use of compact sources of carbohydrate such as sugar, cordial, soft drink, sports drink, jam, honey, jelly and tinned fruit. Athletes who include too many high fibre foods in their carbohydrate loading menu may suffer stomach upset or find the food too bulky to consume.
• Carbohydrate loading will most likely cause body mass to increase by approximately 2kg. This extra weight is due to extra muscle glycogen and water. For some athletes, a fear of weight gain may prevent them from carbohydrate loading adequately.
• Athletes commonly use carbohydrate loading as an excuse to eat everything and anything in sight. Consuming too many high fat foods will make it difficult to consume sufficient carbohydrate. It may also result in gain of body fat. It is important to stick to high-carbohydrate, low-fat foods while carbohydrate loading.

This article is taken from AIS.

Malakoff Interstate ride 2009/10

Nizam from Taiping

Sham and Anuar

During Lunch

Salman

Wahid Scenario TV3

Pathmanathan the great Indian Sprinter

Anuar and Hamid in action.